Our Favorite Things: Six Weeks

Woah.  Sawyer is six weeks old already.  How did THAT happen?

I'm still working on both getting my regular blog fixed (could take forever, don't hold your breath) and finalizing Sawyer's blog - it's up and ready but I still need to tweak a couple of things.  If you want an invite, please leave me your email address so I can send you one if I haven't already.  I know a few of you said you wanted one but I don't have your email addresses!!

I'm also working on another blog that will have cleaning tips, recipes and other stuff I'm picking up on as a newly minted work at home Mom.  Again, nobody hold their breath because I'm lucky if I go to the bathroom lately, let alone do anything productive.

SO, that out of the way, I wanted to post some of my favorite and helpful baby things we've used during the first month and a half of this party.  FYI, nobody is paying me to say any of this and nobody sent me stuff to review.  All these things were either given to us as gifts or purchased by us for the baby.  I just thought it might be helpful to some of you and good for me to someday look back on and show Sawyer the ancient way of raising babies!

 

First, my most favorite baby thing EVER is this Graco Sweetpeace Swing.  I call it the BMW of baby swings.  It's amazing and I use it many times every day.  If it fed the baby for me I wouldn't have to do anything.  OK that's not really true but it's close.  I got it in the Vance design because I felt like it was the most neutral, but there are several different design options.  Regardless of the color, it does amazing things.  My favorite features:

• Swings back and forth or side to side depending on which way you face the chair.  I love this because he likes to swing different ways and sometimes I want to rotate him to face away from the window or whatever.
• Removeable chair that rocks and vibrates.  This is AWESOME because if Sawyer is sleeping and I want to shower, I just pop the chair out and take him with me.  This is also awesome if you have a Graco infant carrier (which we don't) because if the baby is in their carrier, you can just pop the chair out and pop that in and use it.  Amazing.
• MP3 Hookup with a surprisingly good speaker - plus there is a little drawer to store the iPod in.  There are also several options of white noise sounds and a selection of slow and fast baby music.  It's FANTASTIC.

 

Next, Aden + Anais Swaddle Blankets. They have a two different types, the bamboo muslin and the cotton muslin.  My most favorite are the bamboo because they are SO SO SO soft, but they are more expensive and frankly, the cotton ones are almost as soft and just as awesome.  Plus they are far easier to find as most baby stores carry them whereas I've only seen the muslin on the Aden + Anais website, on Amazon and at Nordstrom.  I am of the opinion that one cannot have too many sets, especially in Phoenix.  Sawyer sleeps much better when he's swaddled but it's so stinking hot here normal blankets would make him a sweat bomb.  These are breathable and perfect for us.  Plus they have such cute designs and keep coming out with more.  I am dying to get the jewel toned set.  So fancy.  Aden + Anais also has awesome bath towels, sleep sacks, satin edged lovey blankets and burp cloth/bibs.  It's a fantastic company with great customer service.  One of my sets had a blanket with holes in it right out of the box and they sent me a whole new set without any hassle at all.  Winning!

 

Ah the Moby Wrap.  I use this all the time.  Sawyer loves to be held and while I love to hold him, I'm not so good at getting things done with only one hand, so he spends a lot of time in the Moby.  I am also a fan of attachment parenting and the recommendation to carry your baby with you as much as possible to help them feel "part" of your every day routine.  We also use the Moby to go on walks in the morning with the dog if I'm not feeling like hauling out the stroller.
This brings us to our stroller.  While I don't encourage anyone to go out and pay full price for one of these suckers, I sure do love our Bugaboo Cameleon.  I got it on Craig's List sooooo cheap (it had all the extras like infant carrier kit, a cup holder, toddler wheel board and diaper bag hooks plus the family threw in a Maxi Cosi Micco carrier and two car seat bases.  Sweet!).  I started looking during the first pregnancy and just kept my eye on listings until I found the cheapest one I'd seen, so I would recommend going that route.  This thing rules.  With a conversion kit it works with our Maxi Cosi carrier, you can adjust the handle to face the baby, the small wheels can be in front for easy navigation or the big wheels can for "off-road" situations...the list goes on and on.  I use the bassinet right now for our morning walks and Sawyer usually falls right to sleep.  It's a little tricky at first to figure out how to open and close it but once you get the hang of it, it's not hard at all.  I highly recommend it as long as you get it used.

 
I knew I wanted Sawyer to sleep in our bedroom for a while but I also knew we didn't have a big enough bed for him to be IN our bed and I definitely knew I didn't want to have to get out of bed to go get him a zillion times a night.  This is where our Arms Reach Co-Sleeper Mini comes in.  Once again, I kept my eye out and got it much cheaper on Craig's List.  I love that it also functions like a much smaller pack-n-play so we can take it on trips with us.  If you aren't familiar with these, it has a system that allows you to secure it to the side of your bed and then one of the sides slides down so the baby is easily accessible.  Now, there's still a lip so it's not like the co-sleeper mattress is exactly even with you (which is what I thought) but it's still so easy to reach over and grab him in the middle of the night and then slide him back in when he's done eating...if I don't fall asleep first.


For bath time, we use a Puj Tub.  Yet again, this was a Craig's List find.  I normally wouldn't buy a bath tub used but someone had twins and was given two of them and never even opened one, so it was brand new in the box, still sealed in plastic.  I love using it.  It's made out of really soft foam and it's easy to fold and fits in our bathroom sink.  It holds the perfect amount of water with drainage holes that work perfectly so that I can keep warm water running on Sawyer but not make a mess.  I love that I don't have to bend over the tub to bathe him, especially in those first weeks when my c-section was still tender.  I also love that it's BPA free and is made so that it won't get all yucky moldy.  Also, since it unfolds totally flat it's easy to store by hanging on the back of our bathroom door.  The only bummer is that it is only supposed to go to 17lbs which, at the rate Sawyer is growing, will last us another five minutes or so.

 

Finally, diapers.  I know every baby is different and every mom has a different opinion on diapers, but we have found that, at least for the newborn stage, Pampers Swaddlers are the bomb diggity.  The hospital had the Pampers so it was what we used first, but I had some Huggies newborn size at home so when we ran out of the hospital stash we tried those.  No bueno.  First, something about the way those diapers were shaped allowed Sawyer to pee straight out of the top of the diaper EVERY time.  Second, they weren't as absorbant at all.  I could go all night with one Pamper but had to change the Huggies two or three times.  The Pampers seem like they won't be as good because they are so thin but it's deceiving.  My favorite part is how they work with the super fun baby poo.  They have this mesh layer that sucks everything behind it and away from the baby's skin.  Love.  I also love that I am a member of Amazon Mom and with that plus Subscribe and Save I am able to get huge boxes of the Pampers for about $0.14 a diaper and two day delivery.  Turns out I don't like leaving my house anymore.  Weird.

There are so many other things I love but those are the main ones I wanted to share with you.  I'll try to do this every couple of months.  Let me know what things you love for babies!  I'm always up for trying new stuff!!

One Whole Month

Time flies when you're having fun.  And not sleeping much.  And hooked up to a newborn constantly.  And wrangling an unending stream of family.  And training a stubborn dog. 

Holycrap the last month has been nuts.  It's also been all kinds of awesome.


We had so much help in the way of family in town.  Both my parents, both Matt's parents and my Stepmother were here at different and sometimes overlapping times.  There were moments it was totally overwhelming to have that many people here but mostly it was just amazingly helpful to have people cooking or cleaning or just holding the baby when I needed a break. 

Watson was a bit traumatized by the combination of us leaving him overnight for the first time, the new baby coming home and taking our attention, a horrible rash/infection he's had that required steroids making him NUTS and then mostly the people coming and going.  He didn't want to miss a thing so he was a lot crazy for a couple of weeks there.  Things have calmed down now and he's better being back in his normal routine, but still on steroids so we're dealing with what my husband calls a "performance enhanced version of Watson."  We're also working much harder on training...specifically establishing who the boss is around here.  Watson is understandably upset to find out it's not him. 

On to the main event.  Sawyer is quite possibly the best baby ever.  I thought maybe it would wear off as he got bigger/older, but it hasn't.  He's radical.  While he does wake up about three times a night to eat, he never screams or cries for long periods of time or stays awake wanting to play.  He just kindly lets me know he'd like some boob, please, then latches on and eats until he falls asleep.  I've also been lucky that I can nurse lying down so I get to snooze while he does it so I don't feel too sleep deprived and thanks to the puppy and the pregnancy I'm already used to interrupted sleep so it's kind of already par for the course here and I feel pretty great most of the time.  I do better when I get a nap in the afternoon but I survive without it. 

Until two nights ago he hadn't had a single blow out, just some bad gas.  The other night I was bicycling his legs trying to help him get the bubbles out and we had our first blow out.  In the middle of my bed.  I was so tired I wiped it up best I could then covered it with a swaddling blanket and went back to sleep.  Three hours later, same thing happened, but this time on the side of the bed.  I no longer had the option of being lazy so I had to get up.  We went and snuggled up in the recliner.  Two hours later, same thing happened but this time all over his blanket and my legs.  I have now learned that if I'm going to help him with the bubbles, we need reinforcements under his back because with the gas comes the poop and it shoots up, not down. 

I feel almost 100% healed up from the delivery.  I still have weird pulling pains every once in a while on my uterus but overall no pain, no discomfort and I really feel like myself most of the time.  It's been a breezy, comfortable recovery for me and I feel very lucky to not be someone who has a really rough time after a c-section.  At least not this time. 

Nursing is going really well.  I have plenty of milk, Sawyer eats really well and my extra special nursing bonus is that I am losing tons of weight.  I prayed that I'd be one of those people that got super skinny while nursing and it seems (so far) that I got my wish.  I'm down to 15lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight.  Now, before you all gasp and tell me to stop, we need to remember that I gained a lovely 10-12lbs with each miscarriage and when I got pregnant with Sawyer I was the heaviest I've ever been.  This means I still have about 15lbs to go before I'm at what I consider my REAL pre-pregnancy weight which is still about 10lbs heavier than I was aiming for back when I was working out and eating healthy.  With some more luck I may end up right where I want to be.  Keeping it off once I stop nursing will be the hard part I'm sure. 

Motherhood so far is pretty fantastic but of course not without it's challenges.  My carpal tunnel seems to have decided to stick around and get even worse some days.  This means I'm struggling to nurse and do other things with completely numb hands and dysfunctional thumbs.  BOO.  Of course there are days when my hormones are all over the place.  I'm not depressed or anything, but if Matt isn't home right at the moment he said he would be, I can guarantee a melt down, even if the day has gone really well.  Other days I cry for no reason and a few times I get raging mad because my food is too hot or we're out of Diet Coke.  Fun times.  My house cleaning has obviously struggled but I'm trying to get back on schedule there.  I have tons of frozen meals so I haven't had to cook dinner yet but I'm working my way up to that.  We'll see how it goes.  I am already dreading the day when we have two kids because I have NO IDEA how anyone handles a newborn and an older child.  And I'll throw in a dog too.  If I didn't want to try for a girl so badly I would probably call it quits right now!

We got lucky with great friends and family who supplied us with everything we need and more to help out with the baby and I'm currently working on a post about my most favorite baby things so that I can share my WEALTH (sarcasm font) of knowledge.  As expected There are things that have been even greater than I expected them to be and things I've returned or have gone unused because I overestimated how much I would need them.  I'll try to include pictures and links and things so that any of you having babies soon can check out the stuff on your own.

I've also started another blog to talk about Sawyer specifics and will try to do at least a monthly, but hopefully weekly post.  It's going to be private so I can post pictures and names and all that stuff.  If you'd like to read it I'm happy to send you an invite as long as you can prove to me you're not a creeper.  Ha!  Just leave me a comment that you'd like an invite and when I actually have it up and running I'll make sure you can come see. 

Walking Kateastrophe is still broken.  Sigh.  I'm trying to figure out how to fix it but I need help and help is busy right now so it might be a while.  We'll see how long it really takes!

Baby just fell over in his swing and is pretty traumatized by the whole thing so I'm off to save him. 

Sawyer's Birth Story

Though not as exciting as many people's birth stories, I figured it was a good idea to document the day Sawyer was born before my brain turns to permanent mush and I forget.  So here we go...

At my 38 week appointment we'd determined that I was carrying a BIG baby and that we'd need to consider a c-section if I hadn't gone into labor on my own or if I wasn't dilating.  So on Monday July 16th I took my big belly to the doctor's office with my Mom who'd just come to town.  As luck would have it, none of the home remedies we'd tried (at this point we'd tried evening primrose oil and spicy food) had worked.  I was still 1/2cm dilated and 60% effaced as I had been for over two weeks.  Then when the doctor measured my belly, I was measuring at 42 weeks, three weeks ahead of where I actually was.  This pretty much convinced the doctor we needed to schedule a c-section.  She went out to call the hospital and find out when they had openings.  There was one later that afternoon which I would have LOVED to have taken except that I'd had a string cheese that morning and was therefore disqualified (boo breakfast!) and the next available times were either Thursday the 19th at 1:30 or Friday the 20th at 7:30.  My doctor highly recommended the Friday morning since I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the night before and my going more than 13 hours without food when 10 months pregnant wasn't anyone's favorite idea.  Friday at 7:30 it was.

We talked about all the details of the surgery and then what we'd do if I went into labor on my own.  She said she was fine with my trying to deliver naturally if that happened but that I should mentally prepare myself for the high likelihood of a c-section no matter what happened.

I spent the entire week trying to make that baby come on his own.  I tried walking and walking and walking. I tried caster oil.  First it was a tablespoon in a Diet Coke. Then two.  Finally on Wednesday night I tried what has worked for one of my friends three times in a row with labor starting within two hours and the baby coming out within about ten...6-8 oz orange juice, 1/4tsp baking soda and 2oz caster oil.  She had explained the process this way (and I quote because it's pretty awesome):

"So you'll drink this crap, which is the worst tasting thing in the history of things.  Then two hours later you will poop out all your organs.  All of them.   Then about a half an hour later labor will start and just when you think you can't be in more pain, you'll throw up your bones and your body will be made of nothing.  Then, shortly after that, that baby will come shooting out your butt."

I laughed for about ten minutes straight and then set off preparing the concoction.  I drank it as fast as I could and noted that it wasn't the worst drink EVER, just really oily orange juice.  Then I sat as close to a toilet as I comfortably could and waited.  Then I waited some more.  Then I gave up and went to bed, bags packed and ready to go to the hospital at a moments notice.

Eight hours later I pooped out all my organs and then felt better and ate breakfast.  End of caster oil story.  No baby.  Not even one contraction.  I was irritated but at the same time I figured at least my entire digestive system was squeaky clean! 

Thursday night I re-packed my bags and snuggled my sweet puppy for one last time before his life got rocked.  Then I curled my hair.  I figured if I wasn't going to get to have this baby my way, at least I'd look good in the pictures.  Then I went to bed and slept pretty well, all things considered.  We woke up at 4am the next morning and I put on my favorite make-up and then we dropped the puppy off with our neighbor and headed to the hospital.

When we got there it was kind of strange to check in while not in labor.  We moseyed into admitting, went to our room, met our nurse and then waited for things to get rolling.  We took the final pictures of me pregnant:

Then Matt and I changed into our super sexy surgery garb:

My doctor was a few minutes late because her car battery was dead, so at about 7:45 they wheeled me in to the room.  They had Matt wait outside while they prepped me, which included getting my spinal in place, getting me in a catheter (yay!) and putting up a sheet so I wasn't totally wigged out at what was about to happen. 

Matt came in and got the camera rolling and they got started.  It took all of ten minutes for my doctor to cut me open.  I heard some ruckus as she announced he had a VERY round head and she was going to need to use a little vacuum pump thingy to get him out because of that.  The anesthesiologist (who I loved) told me that the baby hadn't dropped into my pelvis at all and that he looked huge so I was going to be grateful we'd decided to go with a c-section.  A few seconds later I heard a bunch of "woah he's huge!" and "wow!" and "Eight Ten!" to which I exclaimed "He's only 8lbs 10oz??" The nurse laughed at me and said "No, he's bigger than that!  He was born at 8:10."  Oh.  Right.

Someone brought him over to my side of curtain so I could see him for a second and then they whisked him off to the baby station to make sure he was OK, weigh him and do all of that.  Matt went with them while I got stitched up and tried to catch glimpses of my screaming baby boy.  It was a bit surreal for me because I hadn't been able to hold or touch him yet, so I caught a glimpse of this gorgeous little thing and then had to wait to really get a good look.  I was overcome with emotions, mostly feeling grateful that my body had finally been able to do it's reproductive job and get our little guy here. 

I squirted a few tears which the anesthesiologist kindly wiped for me, and then a few minutes later everything was done and we were being wheeled back to my recovery room.  Matt handed him off to my Mom while the nurses checked me to make sure everything was good and then I finally got to hold my son.  I decided that he is pretty much perfect. 

The nurse suggested we try nursing right away (luckily his insulin levels were great when he was born so they didn't have to supplement with formula or anything while they waited for me to get stitched up) and he latched right on and nursed for an hour without stopping.

After that they transferred me to my permanent room where we got to know our nurse and got working on getting to know each other and recovering and blah blah blah. 

Thankfully, my recovery has been super easy.  The pain has been totally manageable with mostly Ibuprofin and Tylenol (the first two days in the hospital I was on something stronger they gave to me via IV but I never had enough pain to have to ask for anything extra), and I was on a soft food diet (which is all normal food...I guess I didn't check to see what was on the regular diet I couldn't eat, but really my options were awesome) by the end of the day and up walking (escorted) to the bathroom that night.  The next morning all the tubes and crap were removed and I was good to move around on my own.  Sunday morning the OB/GYN on call checked and discharged me and we were home by 1:30 and have been loving life ever since. 

I seriously have no complaints about the c-section and, considering my easy recovery, I have a feeling that it was easier than a natural birth would have been.  I am walking great, have minimal bleeding, very little pain at my incisions - there is a little up where the doctor cut my uterus inside but I think it's trying to shrink down and that's aggravating the scar.  I've definitely been tired, but our kick-butt baby has been letting me sleep more than I was sleeping while I was pregnant, so I feel really rested.

Matt took the week off work and has been AWESOME.  He's changed a majority of the diapers and been working on training the dog (turns out we didn't do enough of that and there's been some small issues with him listening to us when we need him to.  Ouuuurrr baaaadddd) and just being an all around rock star Dad. 

My Mom and Dad have both been here as were Matt's parents so we've had tons and tons of help around but weirdly we haven't really needed it.  I guess I hear so many new baby horror stories I keep waiting for hours of screaming and misery and nobody sleeping and so far it's just not happening.  I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that this keeps up and we don't end up with hell next week!

I still don't understand why we had to go through what we did to get him here but I can say that he was worth every second of pain and heartbreak.  

Welcome to the world, Sawyer.  We are so glad you're here.

And Then I Had a Baby

It's hard to believe that after the two years of hell trying to get him here, we have a real, live, grown in my body baby living at our house.

Wow.

Sawyer Michael was born Friday, July 20 at 8:10am. He was 9lbs 4oz, 20.5 inches and he is absolutely fabulous.  See?!

Picture Credit: Sorensen Studios

He has gold-red hair and it's looking like his eyes will be blue, but that is still to be determined.  He has HUGE hands and feet and other than the super fun newborn rash that has plagued us since day one, he's pretty much perfect.  I'm whispering this next part so I don't jinx us, but when I say perfect, I mean it in every sense.   This kid sleeps and eats like a CHAMP, usually going at least three, usually four or five hours between feedings at night.  He latched on the first time in less than 30 seconds, which my nurse said she's never seen before.  We had to correct the latch so that his amazing suction abilities (another first - our pediatrician said in 14 years she's never seen such a strong suck from a baby) didn't pull my nipples completely off my body but now that's fixed and other than some minor discomfort, nursing is a breeze.  He definitely goes to the bathroom like a newborn, going through what seems like a million diapers a day and he seems to have an uncanny ability to pee out of the top of his diaper, which I think is related to the vaseline covered gauze we have to put on his man parts thanks to the circumcision (PS - who ever thought THAT was a good idea?  "Guys!  I have an idea!  We'll take the top tiny bit of skin off the most sensitive part of the baby and we'll CUT IT OFF!!!  Brilliant!"  Not.)  but *knock on wood* we've yet to have a blow-out.  I could go on and on but I've been around my fair share of newborns and he is literally the best one I've seen.  I swear I'm not just saying that because he's my kid.  I'll be the first to admit that he spent his first week looking a lot like a very tiny angry old man.  I'm not above admitting he looked totally weird for a while there.  Now that the swelling is going down, his rash is going away and he is actually opening his eyes he's looking pretty darn cute.  I was scared for a minute there. 

I'm working on his birth story, though it's not as involved or as interesting as many are, but I figure I might as well document it anyway.  I'll try to find the time to get it out there really soon, which in my new timeline means maybe by December?

Thanks to those of you who have already reached out with well wishes and congratulations.  I am so grateful to have had all of you with me on this journey.  It has really been a rough couple of years for us, and although the pain of the miscarriages may never go away, having this little man here does make so many things make sense.  We are so lucky to have him.

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OH, as an FYI to those of you who care, I just discovered that my other blog is broken.  I can't get into the admin page to publish anything.  I don't even remember how to get into my host files...oops.  My best friend's husband is my host so I need to get a hold of him to get in but after that, I'm worried because I seem to have forgotten all the things I taught myself about HTML and running a real blog so I'm not feeling hopeful that I'll be able to get in soon, but I'll sure try!!

The Plan, Stanley

I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow and I woke up last night thinking that maybe my water broke.  Turns out I probably peed my pants just a little and the primrose oil I've been, um, putting there to help me dilate probably just leaked.  It was disappointing and disgusting all at the same time. 

My doctor ordered an extra ultrasound for me at my weekly checkup this week.  The first words out of her mouth after she saw the results were "you have a big old baby in there, woman!"  Monster Baby has continued to grow and turned into Super Monster Baby.  He was measuring at 8lbs 9oz and in the 89th percentile for growth, which are both higher numbers than were estimated at the last ultrasound.  His head is still up in the 90th percentile somewhere as well.  Um, yikes.  Even more interesting is that he seems to be sucking the life out of me.  Since my last appointment I've lost three pounds and he has continued to gain size at an uncanny rate.  Fan freaking tastic, right!?  Oh and even more fun, I've made no progress at all.  1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, just like the last appointment.

Normally, ultrasounds can be a pound or so off, and are usually estimating high, but knowing Matt's family history of large babies and emergency c-sections, my doctor decided that if I show up to my next appointment on Monday morning and I'm not making any progress, she will probably schedule a c-section.  If I'm dilated to at least a 1 1/2 she'll schedule an induction.  Obviously a c-section isn't ideal, so I'm doing everything I can think of on my end to encourage some dilation and softening up in here.  Thus the primrose oil.  I'm really hoping to get some dilation happening so we can go for the induction rather than a c-section.  Now, in an ideal world this baby would just come on it's own.  I'm not a huge fan of inducing and I doubt anyone is a huge fan of a c-section, but I'm especially not fond of being in labor for a whole day and THEN having to do a c-section.  I think in that case you basically put your body through 90% of natural birth and the side effects of that and then you have to also recover from major surgery.  So, hopefully I go into labor today or tomorrow and avoid both situations, but I have a feeling I'll be in my appointment on Monday where we'll be making a plan and most likely this kid will be born Tuesday or Wednesday.

SO, this weekend I'll be doing last minute things like installing the car seat and getting the co-sleeper set up in our bedroom as well as hopefully doing some cleaning.  I also have to figure out a plan for the puppy since our existing plan is on vacation in California until Wednesday.  Luckily there are plenty of people around who love Watson and have offered to help out. 

Hopefully I'll be back here Monday with a final update as to when our lives get turned upside down!  I'm excited to meet this little boy but I'm also nervous and I think in a little bit of denial that it's actually happening.  Hold me?

Aaaaand....I'm done.

37 weeks and holy crap did all the symptoms I haven't had for nine months show up all at once!  I knew this easy pregnancy thing was too good to be true!

Heartburn...check.

Huge belly and non-existent stomach muscles impeding sleep...check.

Baby dropped and pelvic pressure is out of this world.  I feel like I'm carrying a 20lb bowling ball in my cha-cha.  When I walk it looks that way, too.  You're welcome for the visual.

Swelling is not horrible but I am retaining some fluid so my engagement ring doesn't fit anymore.  My wedding band and still fits but not nearly as comfortably.  Some of my shoes have straps that are leaving marks in my ankles but it's not too bad, I suppose.  Just there.

My personal favorite symptom right now is pregnancy induced Carpal Tunnel.  Yeah, I'd never heard about that one either.  Basically both my arms go completely numb and then scream at me in pain.  It happens mostly at night, making the little sleep I was getting non existent.  I spend the majority of the night trying to find a position that doesn't hurt my hips, doesn't involve being on my back and allows my wrists to be straight so they don't DIE. 

My attempts to get comfortable are not working well and I just wake up pissed off and for the most part, miserable as far as my body goes.  At that point I limp to the couch where I sit like a lump all day with the fan on full blast praying the dog behaves so I don't have to attempt to get up and run after him.  Matt is such a lucky guy. 

I had my 37 week check up today, the first of my cervical checks.  I gained two more pounds, I'm 1/2 a centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, blood pressure and protein levels are perfect, so basically nothing is happening.  He is definitely head down, which is good.  I'm measuring right at 37 weeks but due to the family history of monster babies, my always amazing doctor scheduled an extra ultrasound for next week so we can measure him again.  If the tech was right and he was 6.5lbs two and a half weeks ago and is growing according to the expected half a pound a week, he's almost eight pounds right now.  If they measure him there again she might consider an early induction.  I'm almost praying for that because three more weeks of the non-sleeping discomfort might cause permanent mental damage.

Matt finished the board and batten in the nursery last night after probably 50 hours of really hard work and it looks AMAZING.  I almost started crying when I saw it done.  It is better than I could have imagined.  Today I'm going to clean out the closet (there's a lot of dust in there), wash and sort everything (again) and then tonight or tomorrow we'll probably set up the crib and really get things moving.  The crib bedding came last week and it's better than I could have hoped for, so it's nice to have that all done.  Now we have to buy the bookshelf, dresser, light, twin bed frame or base, curtains (which I may paint if I get the courage) and bedding for the twin bed , then we'll probably paint the dresser and eventually paint stripes on the one wall that doesn't have board and batten.  I'm also trying to figure out some kind of cool, original mobile type thing that won't cost a million bucks to go above the crib.  Obviously we're nowhere near done but the rest of the stuff is easy compared to the walls that Matt completed and hopefully one trip to Ikea will take care of most of the things we need and then we can get it all put together.

I had maternity pictures taken last week.  I found a photographer who I love and she had a full year package for babies - pics are taken when they're brand new, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months, so we decided to go with that so we didn't have to think about it anymore than that.  She was super generous and threw in a maternity session for me which I got pretty excited about until I remembered I was NINE MONTHS PREGNANT.  I spent all sorts of time trying to find outfits that didn't make me look like a whale, then my great friend Janae curled my hair, I spent for-ev-er on my make-up and my sister helped trek us out to the middle of the desert for our shoot in 106 degree weather.  God smiled on us that day because, despite the horrid temperature, there was a nice breeze and beautiful clouds from an impending Haboob which gave us amazing lighting and an even more amazing sunset.

Here's one of the pictures that the photographer posted on Facebook.  There are plenty more she took but I haven't seen them yet.  I love love love this one and I also promise I don't usually look like this.  She worked some serious magic.  If anyone who reads this lives in Phoenix and needs a photographer, you should probably hire Selena of Sorensen Studios.  She is really so so so amazing.

Well, that's it for now.  This chair is starting to hurt my butt and I've successfully made my hands numb while typing so I think it's time for me to resume my position on the couch and watch the final season of Felicity and pray about taking some caster oil to get this baby out of me.

36 Week Catch Up

Um, hi. Sorry I've been MIA for the last month and some change. Things got a little cra-cra around here! We (as in Matt Watson and I) spent ten days in Utah at the beginning of June. I had an amazing shower that my more amazing Mom threw for me. Once again, we were spoied rotten.

After the shower we spent a few days enjoying the fabulous weather, grass yards and wonderful family. The last few days I spent with my four best girlfriends on our annual Girl's Trip. This was the eighth year in a row and we stayed in Provo at Julia's parents amazing home. We went to the fancy new shopping center in Salt Lake - City Creek drove around in Julia's Dad's restored Scout, ate tons of amazing food and had an all around fantastic time.

I came home and had an OB appointment with our final ultrasound. The nurse terrified me when she read the wrong line in my chart and told me that I'd gained ten pounds in two weeks (!!!!!) but my doctor corrected her and pointed out the error, so only four pounds. Phew! I kept losing track but I finally sat down and did the math and I've gained 12 pounds total and will probably be right at about 16-18 by the time he's born. The ultrasound showed that he is in the 75th percentile overall and weighed about 6.5lbs. The tech told me that means he's on track to be 8.5-9lbs at birth if I go full term. I almost died. Then the doctor told me she usually sees the 75th percentile babies weighing in at closer to 7.5-8lbs so she's not too worried. We're keeping a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't get so big we're forced to have a c-section, but all signs point to a big boy. Yikes. I shouldn't be surprised considering Matt was 8.5, our niece (on Matt's side) was 10.2 and my father-in-law was 13.

So, on Sunday I'll be thirty six weeks...as in full term! It's crazy to think that he could be born any minute, though technically he's not due or another four weeks. I have decided he's coming on July 10th. I almost guarantee I won't get my way, but I'm putting all thoughts and energy into that date anyway. Can't hurt, right? He's still moving like crazy and I think he's dropped so his little face and hands are firmly planted in my pelvis, which makes for some very strange feelings in places I'm not used to having feelings. Luckily he's only kicked my ribs a couple of times. My biggest complaint is him rubbing against the back side of my belly button. I get this weird shock like feeling through my whole body when he does that so I'm hoping he doesn't do it anymore. 

Matt is working his butt off on the nursery. He finished re-texturing the bottom four feet of the walls in preparation for board and batten. We bought the paint and will be doing the prep painting and probably buying and cutting the wood this weekend. Crib bedding is being made this week and I have picked out out of the other stuff I need for the twin bed and other furniture for the room, we just have to buy it. My favorite news for the week is that Matt had remote start installed in the truck (which I am now driving due to my car getting better gas mileage for Matt's long commute) so that I can cool the car off before putting the baby in it and killing him. It is so fantastic to know I won't have to burn the crap out of him every time we go somewhere. Such a great present. So there's the update. Not too exciting but definitely lots going on in final preparation for D-Day! July 10th is fast approaching!!

The Dirty Thirty

Thirty weeks and I feel like I've already been in the third trimester for a decade.  I really felt like the first seven months of pregnancy flew by and now it's just taking FOR-EV-ER.  This probably has a lot to do with the whole not sleeping so well thing.  It's making my days last much much longer, that's for sure.

SO, other than the not sleeping, things are great.  I'm getting larger by the minute and the little guy is SUPER active.  Luckily he hasn't kicked until it hurt or anything like that yet but wow he moves a lot.  My doctor informed me that I passed the glucose test with "flying colors," my total weight gained is five pounds which puts me right on track for where they'd like me to be when I deliver,  blood pressure is great, the old uterus is measuring perfectly, and the little man's heartbeat is in the 150s.  I could not have asked for a more perfect pregnancy and I'm so very grateful for that.  We're at the point where I now have appointments every two weeks which is fun but also a pain for a five minute appointment to measure and check his heartbeat but oh well.  Soon we'll be scheduling the final ultrasound (35 or 36 weeks I think is when it will be) and I'm excited for that. 

I made some decent progress on the nursery, though none of it's visible yet.  The custom bedding has been designed and ordered which is a big relief.  We were going to have to wait until August for it to arrive because the lady making it takes all of July off to spend with her family, but lucky for me she had a June cancellation and I was the mom with the closest due date so she gave me the slot!  Woot!  My fantabulous designer friend Megan (who will have a blog soon so I can link to it and show you ALL her amazingness) helped me decide on what to do with the walls and while it's going to be quite a bit of work (Matt is SO thrilled) it's going to look amazeballs and I'm really really excited.  I've decided on artwork and should have a decision on curtains and the room arrangement soon.  Then it's just a matter of putting it all together.  I'm actually not expecting it to be done by the time he gets here, which is no big deal since he'll be in our room for a few months anyway.

My Arizona shower is this week and I'm super excited, mostly to get together with a bunch of my friends and see some old co-workers who I haven't seen in a long time.  The invitations are TO DIE FOR, thanks to my great friend Aimee. She's been on Martha Stewart and is sort of becoming super famous.  You should totally check out her website, SuperMom Moments (which she runs with another amazingly talented lady, Bettijo).  They have printables and party ideas and all sorts of awesome stuff.  I feel really lucky to know her and have her like me enough to design the invites.  See how cool? 

I told Aimee I wanted to decorate my whole house with them.  She sent them on the most beautiful kind of sparkly(?) paper and in the same kind of envelopes but in navy.  SO CUTE.  She and my sister and a bunch of other girlfriends are throwing the shower together and all of them are amazingly talented when it comes to parties so I seriously cannot wait to see how it all turns out.

I have lots of travel plans for June so I can get out of the heat and hopefully everything continues to go just as smoothly as it has up to this point!  I can't believe there are only ten more weeks.  I also can't believe I have TEN MORE WEEKS.  I'm sure most of you understand the sentiment.

The Final Third

OK so today I'm OFFICIALLY in the third trimester.  None of this fake third trimester crap from four weeks ago.  28 weeks done, 12ish to go.  Here's a belly shot for all you wanters.  Don't mind my sweats.  I only get dressed about three times a week now and today isn't my (or your) day.  At least I'm wearing a clean outfit.  You are welcome. 

I'm still feeling really good overall though I swear I get bigger and more stretched out by the second. It's getting harder to maneuver myself out of bed or off the couch but I'm figuring it out.   I'm getting more and more tired and hot for sure, and of course here in Phoenix the hot part is only bound to get worse, but those I can manage.  It seems to be an every-other-day cycle.  I'll have tons of energy and do all kinds of things around the house and then the next day it's all I can do to move from bed to the couch to the fridge.  I'm working on not overdoing it the days where I have energy but I can tell I've got some nesting going on and just want to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.

The hip pain is getting worse, and due to the hot factor, sleeping with my super sweet body pillow is becoming very toasty, which in turn makes the hip pain worse.  Half the nights I abandon all pillows, blankets and sheets and I'm sure will soon also abandon clothes just so I can bask in the air conditioning vent that sits directly over our bed.  Either that or, as I've mentioned to several people, buy a huge, body sized deep freezer and just move in for the next three months in an attempt to keep cool. 

As far as exercise goes I am still walking the dog for about thirty minutes at least once or twice a day.  I also got a Groupon this morning for ten yoga classes at the really nice studio down the street.  I'm going to try to do prenatal yoga once a week until the baby comes.  I think the stretching will do my hips and legs some good, plus I'm sure there are awesome mental benefits as well. 

I'm up about once or twice per night to pee depending on how much I had to drink before bed and the heartburn has made it appearance.  Luckily it's not constant.  I only get it when I eat something spicy, too acidic (like orange juice or tomato sauce) and I just discovered this morning, overly chocolaty.  I'm crying over the last one.  Of COURSE chocolate gives me heartburn.  Still no odd pregnancy cravings.  I love the foods I loved before and basically eat about the same stuff and the same portions.  I still don't have the results back from my glucose test, but I should hear today.  Hopefully we're all clear there and I can continue eating carbs three times a day and give birth to some sort of tortilla chip or slice of bread.  Like I said...still eating all the same stuff!

Still no real nursery progress. My designer friend graduates on Friday so hopefully I can get her to help me  out after that.  I did go through all the baby clothes a second time and set aside a box of stuff that is either overflow or things I'm not a huge fan of.  I'll wait and see what I get at my showers and sort through all of that too and then take inventory of what I have and need and then go from there.  If my mothers (mother, step-mother and mother-in-law) have anything to do with it I'll never have to buy clothes as long as he's alive!  I'm trying to keep everything sorted into sizes as it comes in so I'm not overwhelmed by the task later on when I'm huge-er and less likely to care as much.

Pretty soon we're taking a ten day trip to Utah for my shower there as well as my yearly girl's trip.  We're taking the dog which should prove fun and interesting.  We're driving which will also prove interesting and most likely uncomfortable for me, but the alternative of not having a car is no bueno. It will be nice to have so much time there and we'll hopefully be able to see everyone we want to before we have the baby and traveling becomes a bit more difficult.  I'm also hoping to take a week or so towards the middle or end of June and go stay with my Grandparents.  My doctor said no flying after the 15h of June but we can drive there.  My main goal is to get out of the heat and just lounge in their pool a lot.  Plus, seeing my Grandma is always a bonus. 

So there's the update.  My life is so very exciting. 

SUGAR!!!!

I'm officially 27 weeks and today was the start of my every three week appointments and the dreaded glucose test.  After consulting with the nurse last time as to the preferred flavor for the deliciousness, I went with orange.

Firstly, yesterday I sort of forgot I was having this test done today and literally ate NOTHING BUT CARBS (not joking.  Cereal and toast for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch and a mid-afternoon snack) until 9pm when I remembered what I had to do and decided to have an egg, broccoli and cheese omlet for dinner.  I know, 9PM isn't really dinner time but that's what happened. 

I woke up this morning and brushed my teeth early so I could rid myself of the toothpasteness before downing the orange goo.  Having heard horror stories about the drink, I was delighted when I found it didn't actually taste that bad.  Sort of like orange soda that someone messed up the mix on and there wasn't nearly enough water.  I was able to gulp it down in about one minute. 

Naturally, as soon as I'd downed the bottle, my phone rang.  My OB's office was calling telling me she had to go deliver a baby and could they reschedule for this afternoon?  Normally?  No problem, but their office is thirty minutes from my house and I had sort of just downed the equivalent of ten bags of Halloween candy for breakfast.  I didn't particularly want to make the trip once just for a blood draw so I mentioned the glucose test and they were miraculously able to squeeze me in only an hour late when they assumed my doctor would be back.  So, I braved the rush hour traffic and made it to the office with six minutes to spare before the hour time limit on drawing my blood was up, did that whole thing then got to go find some breakfast to calm my FREAKING OUT blood sugar levels. 

All in all it worked out well because I would have been super duper jittery waiting to see my doctor, plus I also had to wait for the nurse after my visit so I could get my Rhogam shot (I am O Negative so that's always a literal pain in the butt). 

Everything is great.  This week I'm measuring a week ahead (if you're keeping track in the last three months I've been a week ahead, a week behind and now a week ahead again) and the mister's heartbeat was perfect.  He was also having a party thanks to the excess sugar so it took us a little while to nail down his location for a heartbeat but that seems to be the norm whenever I'm at the doctor's office.  Or maybe always?  Basically he's very active.  Super excited to see how that manifests in his real life.

I feel like I'm getting bigger every day and yesterday, as I was lying on the couch and attempted to get up, I experienced the oddness of my inner ab muscles poking through the separation in my outer ab muscles.  This is something no one had ever mentioned to me before.  I'm sure if I'd thought about it, it would have been like a "no duh" moment for me but not being prepared to see some forgotten inner muscles poking through like a strange worm was SO WEIRD.  Matt looked over at just the right moment and just said "What the hell?!"  My thoughts exactly.  My hips are still hurting a big though the last few days it's been less.  I'm not sure if I've found better sleeping positions or my body is just adjusting, but I'm grateful either way. 

Yesterday Arizona hit a record high for April of 105 and I was pretty sure I was going to die from the heat.  This does not bode well for the next three months. I'm not even THAT hot yet and it was seriously the most miserable day.  I think I'm going to go buy a deep freeze and plan to live in it until the baby is born.  I'm praying this was a freak heat wave and it cools back down until the end of June.  I doubt I'll get my way but here's hoping.

So, there you have it.  My little update.  I'm almost officially in my third trimester and while part of me is super excited, a lot of me is starting to panic just a little.  Or a lot.  Either way this little man appears to be coming for reals so I guess I'd better figure out how to be a parent or something!